A Daily Blog (est. 10/2012) dedicated to quality writing, original content and a healthy dose of entertainment from "A Vagabond in God's Big Pond" Explore etymology with WORLD WIDE WORDS (Archived Link). PUNS FOR INTELLIGENT PEOPLE will tickle your fancy. The WAYBAC MACHINE will take you back in time. +++Plus +++ read my book ALPHA OMEGA M.D. coming in Spring of 2019. Read about The Space Family McKinney at your own pace in = THE RETURN TRIP and The NULL Solution, Episode Catalogs for both in the "links" section. as well as Constance Caraway ~ Forever Mastadon. We are in the midst of Alpha Omega M.D., concluding near the end of the year. — If you have not viewed this blog on a PC or Tablet, you don't know what you're missing.

Category Archives: The Universe

Most

Terrifying Places

in

the Known Universe

Like Great Cthulhu, who lies dead and dreaming in the sunken city of R’lyeh, or the nuclear chaos–the blind idiot god–Azathoth, in HP Lovecraft’s stories and other cosmic horror stories, the universe is home to planets and celestial objects that defy our expectations and exhibit truly horrific environments–where humankind was surely never meant to voyage.

10. Trappist-1

Imagine that you stand on the surface of an alien world, where the sky burns dark and crimson, oceans of magma stretch from horizon to horizon and volcanoes constantly resurface the planet. A red globe of light rises slowly above the horizon, but unlike Earth’s star, it barely provides any light at all. Five other worlds appear as moons, forever drifting in the dark, threatening one another in their eternal celestial dance. Brilliant auroras fill the sky, burning and caressing the atmosphere, irradiating the surface and anything that dares to draw breath.

The Trappist-1 system may be the best hope for finding an Earth-like planet yet, with each of its seven planets being very Earth-like. Scientists think that many, if not all, have some sort of atmosphere and feature liquid water.

But—there’s always a but, isn’t there?—it may also be terribly inhospitable.

So far, evidence suggests that these worlds orbit their parent star peacefully. But, if our system is any indication, orbits are rarely static. Earth itself has at times exhibited a more elliptical orbit (which has been used as a possible explanation for our many ice ages).

A bigger threat to emerging life and habitability in the Trappist-1 system, however, may be a process called magnetic induction, causing many of the innermost worlds (even those in the habitable zone) to have oceans of flowing magma (like Io, which orbits Jupiter).

There is also the fact that super-cool dwarf stars like Trappist-1 are extremely active. They flare more than our star does, and this could prove to be particularly dangerous for the planets that orbit at such close proximity.

Trappist-1 is also a very dim star. Super cool dwarfs don’t emit much visible light, so processes like photosynthesis may be impossible. So, we can probably rule out rich vegetation.

9. Wasp-12b Exoplanet

A black shape transits across the surface of a star not unlike our own. It glows with an eerie iron red halo as its parent star devours it, the tidal forces squishing it and inflating the atmosphere until it’s nearly the size of Jupiter.

Welcome to WASP-12b. Deep in the Auriga constellation. Where the tidal forces of its dwarf star parent are so great, they stretch the planet into the shape of a football, and diamond is as abundant as limestone is on Earth. Despite how close the planet is to its star, it emits almost no light, making it one of the darkest exoplanets ever discovered.

But it won’t be around for long, because its host star is devouring it.

8. PSO J318.5-22

In the depths of interstellar space, a lone rogue burns on through the darkness. From within its raging dust clouds, there is no star in the ever-night sky. But, even with no star to warm its skies, somehow, its temperatures rage on into the 800s, and it rains rocky debris and pure iron.

PSO J318.5-22 is a rogue planet, a lonely, wandering jovian class world with no star to call its home. It exists some 80 light years away in the constellation capricornus. The planet is thought to be six times larger than Jupiter, and, surprisingly warm for a free-floating object.

The object is part of a group of stars which formed almost 12 million years ago. That’s relatively recent in cosmic terms. Scientists aren’t quite sure how objects like these end up floating all by their lonesome in the depths of interstellar space.

7. Mira: A Real Shooting Star

Imagine that you wake up in the middle of the night. There’s an odd glow visible from your bedroom window. You go outside and stare up at the night sky. You see a new, bright object in the night sky. At first, you think it’s a comet. But, soon realize that it’s not. It’s a star, shedding its material much like a comet.There’s just one problem, your world is in its way.

You’ve heard of so-called “shooting stars,” which you’ve probably also learned are nothing more than meteoroids burning up in our atmosphere. But what if we told you there were real shooting stars out in the blackness of space?

With a tail of cosmic gas and debris that stretches 13 light years, Mira is quite special. It’s actually part of a binary system, and its partner (Mira-B) feeds off of its stellar partner. A bow shock forms in front of the star, as it swallows up cosmic dust and gas and anything unlucky enough to get in its way.

So, what’s so terrifying about this? Imagine if our world were in its way.

6. Wandering Black Holes (Black Holes)

You’re looking through a telescope, focusing on Jupiter. You notice something warping the stars around the planet’s bright surface. Then, you see a large trail of gas and dust stretching from Jupiter to a dark spot, hurtling through space toward you.

The earth rumbles, and you realize that it’s all over for humanity.

Wandering black holes are terrifyingly common in our Milky Way Galaxy. Scientists have found two possible Jupiter-sized black holes in gas clouds using ALMA, a set of 66 telescopes spread throughout the Atacama Desert in Chile. And it’s thought there are close to 100,000,000 black holes in our galaxy alone.

But what would happen if such a black hole came close to us? Well, unfortunately, if a wandering black hole got anywhere near our star system, the results would be disastrous, throwing the orbits of every planet, even our Sun, into utter chaos. The most terrifying part? We wouldn’t see it coming until Jupiter and the other gas giants ended up getting their atmospheres gobbled up by the black hole’s immense gravity, creating an accretion disk.

5. Supermassive Electric Current

From the bright core of a spiral galaxy shoots a massive jet of glowing material. Getting any closer than 150,000 light years would mean certain death due to immense radiation and the strongest electric field in the universe.

Equalling about a trillion bolts of lightning, the cosmic jet resulting from the supermassive black hole at the core of galaxy 3C303 is the strongest electric current ever detected in the known universe. Scientists aren’t sure why the electric field is so powerful but theorize that it has something to do with the jets created by the supermassive black hole at the galaxy’s center.

Considering that the Milky Way is only estimated to be about 100,000 light years in diameter, that’s quite impressive, if not terrifying.

4. Hand of God

From the depths of space, the apparition of a ghostly hand reaching up to grab the corpse of a star that went supernova. It flashes with dangerous x rays, filling the pulsar cloud that makes up the hand every seven seconds.

Created by a pulsar wind nebula, the hand formation that the pulsar creates is a mystery scientists are still trying to solve. If our Earth were too close to a pulsar like this, and in the direct path of its gamma ray and X-ray jet, all life on Earth (except extremophiles in caves and near volcanic oceanic vents) would likely go extinct.

Pulsars like the one creating the Hand of God nebula are actually rapidly rotating neutron stars, which emit pulses of intense radio waves and electromagnetic radiation. It has been suggested that objects like these, which emit gamma ray radiation, if pointed directly at the Earth, could cause a mass extinction event.

3. The Boomerang Nebula

From within the hourglass nebula, you freeze almost instantly, drifting through space on a collision course with a dying star.

A proto-planetary nebula created by a dying red giant star 5,000 light years from Earth. It’s the coldest object in the known universe. The boomerang nebula’s average temperature is a minus 458 degrees Fahrenheit (or 1-degree Kelvin). For reference, the coldest place on Earth (located in Antarctica) registers minus 133.6 degrees Fahrenheit.

The team of astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA)–located in the Atacama desert in northern Chile–suggest that the extremely low temperatures may be caused by the collision of a small companion star, plunging into the dying red giant’s surface. The rapid expansion of gas caused by the collision is likely what’s causing the extreme decrease in temperature.

2. RXJ1347

Assuming you had a ship that could get you to this galaxy cluster, it would likely melt within seconds of entering the hottest place in the known universe.

A gas cloud surrounding a galaxy cluster in the constellation Virgo is the hottest place in the known universe. It’s thought that this massive celestial heat storm was produced by two galaxy clusters colliding, creating one of the most violent phenomena in the universe. Contained within a 450,000 light year wide area, the cloud shines like a spot light. What’s more terrifying is that the custer is swimming with X-rays.

Now imagine if Earth was contained in that cluster. How long do you think our planet would last?

1. Boötes Void (The Great Nothing)

Imagine that you’re falling through space. You try to orient yourself, but every which way you turn, all you see is darkness. Up is down, is right, is left. No matter where you look, there are no stars, no planets, nothing but pitch-black nothingness to inform your senses. Imagine now, that this is all you’ve ever know, from the dawn of your existence.

A true abyss from which nightmares are spawned.

Boötes Void is the largest void in the known universe. It’s nearly 330 million light-years in diameter, and its existence is somewhat baffling. Most of the universe appears to be sponge like, expanding uniformly, but the presence of such a void, where thousands of galaxies could (or should) easily fit, raises many questions about the origins of the universe.

Answers, such as TYPE 4 or 5 alien civilizations, capable of harnessing the light and energy of their galaxies, to dark energy or other phenomena, have been proposed as potential explanations for Boötes Void. Some even think that it may be the very epicenter of the Big Bang, and others think that its very existence refutes the big bang as a whole.

The fact stands, that Boötes Void is the largest thing ever discovered within the known universe. If the Earth were to be placed at its center, we wouldn’t have known that there were even other galaxies until the 1960s.

Constance Caraway P.I. ~ Episode 84

…“This stuff is going to be a tough-sell don’t you know,” Martin is sympathetic to the ongoing science versus religion debate…

As work can be the best therapy, so does Willard Libby guide Martin Kamen through the cherished details of his, still to be revealed to the world, discovery that the actual age of planet Earth is far less than the 4.5 to 5 billion year range that is broadly accepted.

Pentateuch refers to it as The Great Deception, for the simple reason that when mankind believes they have all that extra time to operate, there is no motivation to contemplate their mortality.

But even among the broader Christian community, Libby will encounter mountainous doubt about a shorter period of planetary existence. It is such a radical departure from what they have been taught.

Billy Graham had described it to his Tolentine quizmaster this way: “The Lord our God created the Earth with a patina, an aged look beyond its actual maturity.”

Willard Libby’s “half-life” formulae works great on organic material, but the very same decay of carbon in non-organic material is not as easily calculated.

“When God created the Universe, he only made it look like it had been around for nearly forever. Human beings have made a science out of minimizing God’s abilities and wonders.”

Willard had understood what the young preacher was spouting; the notion that a creator had the omnipotent power to make things appear in ways only He can comprehend.

Talk about a transformation. It was not all that long ago, perhaps 5 years that Libby would have argued against the very facts that he has happened to literally stumbled upon.

“This stuff is going to be a tough-sell don’t you know,” Kamen is sympathetic to the ongoing science versus religion debate.

“I have the facts to back it up, Martin, right down to the molecular level,” Willard opens up his treasured paper, thumbing to the section where only someone as versed as a researcher could possibly take hold of and make his own. For the first time he sees the evidence for himself, through a radioisotope. There laid out in front of him are the updated facts, from a completely new perspective.

The NULL Solution = Episode 177

…This appears to be a starfield for feckless foreigners, having all the feel of a jail…

“We will return to Sexta A and reassess our strategic position.”

It is not easy turning around a mobile planetoid {just ask any self-respecting comet}, especially when you cannot find your way. If it is possible, Collapsar’s trail has turned ice cold.

“We appear to be in a singular galaxy. Sexta A or any other galaxies, known or otherwise, have ceased to exist.”

Župzïð would issue an order if he had a clue. “You have been in this place for a long period of time. Is there anything that you do recognize?”

“O is here, but it looks different.” A shiny black version of Lorgan has been lurking all along. When you peer at this version, the only things you see are the trillions of stars “There is evidence that other worlds have been wandering within these boundaries.”

This appears to be a starfield for feckless foreigners. It has the feel of a jail.Prison planets are scattered all over the “regular” universe, so the concept of confinement is far from foreign.

“The Great Expanse has no boundaries.”

“This one does. There are no stars at the end. ⃝ will not allow us to go no further.”

I am the how & why that blocks your way

Prove your worthiness and the light will show the way back

“Another stupid riddle,” apparently the Ÿ€Ð do not have aptitude or the appetite for them. “Keep a lookout for that ridiculous rotating beam from the Terran system. That will steer us in the right direction.”

What about the riddle, pilgrim?

Lights out this way are few and there is little detectable heat generated by what stars there are. It is like they have been hung in the sky, held in place by invisible strings. Harmonia’s lighthouse is nowhere to be seen.

The NULL Solution = Episode 170

…Lorgan is the lever, Mars is the load and Earth is the fulcrum; Universal accordance is the goal…

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Harmonia

Harmonia permanently established – Stardate 2057.00

Part 1 of 2

If Lorgan is the lever, Mars is the load and Earth is the fulcrum; Universal accordance is the goal.

The blinding light of hope has shone to the edge of time. The lighthouse on Mars becomes known at a rate 3 gazillion times faster than SOL. Like insects to a flame, civilizations from infinity and back, come to see for themselves.

Instead of the baffling calculation combo of number and word {that has been correctly deciphered by a Null}, a specifically vague invitation is piggybacked to the sweeping beam:

The time has come for all empires to unite in the climate of harmony and collaboration. The fruit of hostility is like the dirt of a dead world. The rewards of unity are numbered by the galaxies new and old. From before time began, I have observed the rancor of My children and it saddens me. I Am, therefore I Will Be Always. To those who have seen the Light, come. To those who ignore the Light and this message of peace, I know you not.

No matter the language, though restricted to this dimension, the message projects outward, the meaning is clear.

⃝ is established as a formidable force in the continuing process of intergalactic development. Not requiring of worship or tribute, ⃝ asks that this new order coexist in a manner worthy of respect. Whether it be individuals on individual planets or worlds in already established territories, ‘Get along or I will be along.’ is the ⃝ order of the day.

An ever-widening circle is sprouting on Mars. Once upon a time, travelers wondered whether this nondescript planet once sustained life. Maybe it did, maybe it did not, but one thing is for sure, it is currently teeming with representative participation from hundreds of worlds

The NULL Solution = Episode 128

…In the realm of cause & effect, the McKinneys seem to be the lowest common denominator…

Skaldic has been there for the briefing. He breaks his silence with words of comfort for his friend, “With that menace out of our way, let us concentrate on solving that brainteaser that has vexed us so.”

It is with that spirit of a common end that Skaldic first expounds a theorem that has dogged him {and just about every semi-intelligent creature and A.I. in the Great Expanse} for some time. In the realm of cause & effect, the McKinneys seem to be the lowest common denominator.

“I am not exactly sure how, but I think you and your family figure into the Harmonia Query. If I understand the timeline correctly, it was not until you and your mate arrived here, that galactic normalcy began to tilt…”

“Being dragged ten light-years away from Earth was not exactly in our family plan. We would have been content colonizing Mars, as opposed to star hopping to parts unknown. We prefer to be closer to family and friends, you know, that kind of thing.”

Time for a Null analogy:

“You taught me the game of dominoes, remember? After I defeat you again and again, you line up the pieces in a winding row and seem to get excited watching the dominoes topple each other one-by-one.”

“I let you win. What’s your point Skaldy?”

“You represent the first domino Sammy Mac. Do I need to tell you what happens next?”

“Yeah, I get up and watch the mayhem. Are we having fun yet?”

“Consider the Harmonia riddle as the last domino. It still stands tall and straight,” Skaldic makes his point.

What on earth do the McKinneys, a double nine set of dominoes and a Cryptomanic Null have to do with finding the key to Intergalactic Unity?

The NULL Solution = Episode 120

…INTERSTELLAR NEWS is an obscure news outlet based somewhere East of Nowhere…

By now, the label Lorgan is the well-known and accepted name for the ⃝ , widely documented in every corner of the Great Expanse. Rumors get legs, gossip is the fuel and frustration is the outcome of it making its usual unannounced appearance in your “hood”.

O O

O O

O O

Like a fly in the kitchen, Lorgan travels with impunity. There is not a lifeform that is exempt from it; all that creepeth on the ground or flieth in the air. To infinity and beyond, the enigmatic sphere reflects “whosoever’s” image back at them. What you see depends on who you are.

Even if you are not looking, it is there, doing whatever “it” does.

For some planets, it is an evolutionary nudge beyond the cellular stage.

It could be a denied attempt at unnatural selection; the dominance by one specie over another.

Setbacks on Eridanus and Seljuk are subtle reminders that you are never too old for correction.

Thwarting the United Korean Peninsula on Earth is swift and conclusive.

An overriding theme is taking shape, now that the gleaming silver sphere is getting widespread attention. There is a communal course that is being enforced and there seems to be nothing any what, where, why or how can do about it.

Act out, ignore or be ignorant and you get the same result and Lorgan is in no particular hurry.

WE ARE BREAKING IN TO YOUR REGULAR PROGRAMMING TO BRING YOU A SPECIAL REPORT FROMINTERSTELLAR NEWS: “Collapsar Axis, which has been described as “The Pied Piper from Sexta A” is being followed by the object so-named Lorgan. Though its estimated multitude {or so} occupants have not been threatened, it’s Supreme Commander, Župzïð the Last, tells INTERSTELLAR NEWS that Collapsar will not be deterred from its quest to find out just who destroyed their fleet in the Terran Quadrant of the Milky Way Galaxy — Stay tuned for further updates.”

— INTERSTELLAR NEWS is an obscure news outlet based somewhere East of Nowhere.

Nobody need tell the Ÿ€Ð that their 10 Million Cubic Cubit mobile planetoid is being tailed. One moment O is there, then gone for many moments, only to resume its spot, safely at the rear. There is not a tail long enough to swish it away.

Patience is being forced upon the Ÿ€Ðian ark; a melting pot continually filled by one malcontent waif after another. One & all have sworn blind allegiance to a new-world-order {i.e. odor}.

When one galaxy is as good as the next, it doesn’t matter where you are going.

Perhaps not coincidentally, every time Župzïð is tempted to be unnecessarily aggressive along the way, he cannot. Slaps on the hand prove to have a cumulative effect. A Lorgan enforced mischief-free zone heralds its coming, status quo abides in its wake.

The NULL Solution = Episode 16

…The last time something bad happened in this sector was when a younger Chasonn was studying to be… well he didn’t know what he wanted to be…

William Blake, The Good and Evil Angels 1795–c.1805.

TheSeljuk have their hands full their own selves.

A man named Chasonn takes it personal.

Not only is Chasonn the inspirational head of this stalwart star system, he is old enough to remember the hard times; when the Triangulum Galaxy was not such a peaceable piece of their quadrant.

His current concerns are more than justified.

Are his eyes-to-the-skies watching what is going on over in the Milky Way, that relatively primitive galaxy that looks to be on the rise, with all its impactful goings on? – Hardly.

Three Seljuk outlying planetary outposts are now incommunicado, but not before reporting a wave of bright light.

Complicating the situation is the sighting of a single shiny planetoid ⃝ which seems to position itself wherever it pleases. Could it have anything to do with recent bad happenings? A quick check of planetary logs reveals that it has been here before. But before anyone can get a clear fix on it, it decides to vanish.–

— The last time something bad happened in this sector was when a younger Chasonn was studying to be… well he didn’t know what he wanted to be. One thing for sure, he had no intentions of following in his father’s footsteps. There is no reward in being a political figurehead in these parts. In fact there is peril his family’s altruistic efforts.

He was away at university when every Seljuk leader was whisked away, never to be seen again.

Who would neuter a people-group by taking away their governance? The Ÿ€Ð, they would come to find out. In a heretofore unheard of tactic, the Ÿ€Ð strategy of conquering, a particularly insipid one, centers on removing the wisdom of their targets and they are good at it.

But in the centuries since, the Seljuk successive hierarchy has instituted measures to defeat that particular tactic. Chasonn’s present stature is testament to simply filling a void, an essential need for his people.

In Chasonn’s mind, there are no buts about it, this has Ÿ€Ð fingerprints all over it. In his subconscious is the hideous taste left behind in their criminal wake. It took 150 years for the Seljuk to literally grow up new leaders, but the goal of comprehensive exploration of the Great Expanse came to a cruel halt. Without long-range vision, they were coerced into provinciality; the Ÿ€Ð like it that way.

The easy thing to do is to blame the usual suspects. The hard thing will be determining the truth. And the truth is out there.–